Contents REAL ESTATE LISTINGS Keller Williams Koefod Agency Northern Land Property West Flynn Realty Ruff Real Estate LLC Havre Hi-Line Realty FEATURES Bring on the Heat Q is for Quilting Kitchen Cache Junior Hockey Lorraine Verploegen
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OFFICE
(406) 265-6795 • 1-800-993-2459
PUBLISHER EDITOR
Stacy Mantle smantle@havredailynews.com
COPY EDITOR
Pam Burke
John Kelleher jkelleher@havredailynews.com
PHOTOGRAPHER Jake Shane DESIGN
Stacy Mantle Jennifer Thompson Taylor Faulkinberry
ADVERTISING SALES
Nichole Gregori Tanner Veis Shari Nelson
SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES
Rhonda Petersen rpetersen@havredailynews.com
For advertising information, contact Havre Daily News 119 Second Street P.O. Box 431 Havre, MT 59501 406-265-6795
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223 3rd Ave. • Havre, MT 59501
Tom Healy 406-390-6767 tom@koefod.com
Becky Ross 406-390-2599 becky@koefod.com
Jeff Healy 406-390-1966 jeff@koefod.com
Mike Winchell 406-390-7679 mike@koefod.com
residential Listings COMMERCIAL listings
726 6th Ave. ~ $350,000
Jacuzzi tub, tile, hardwood, new windows, new mechanicals, 4 stalls of indoor parking, and heated floors.
Call Jeff Healy, Realtor, 390-1966
1610 10th St West ~ $305,000
Beautiful home on a corner lot. Beautiful granite countertops, hardwood and heated tile floors throughout! Wet bar and indoor hot tub make for great entertaining as well as a large fenced back yard great for relaxing in the summer. Owner is motivated so bring all offers! Call Jeff Healy at 265-6767
234 4th Avenue ~ (IOOF Building) ~ $79,900
SELLER WANTS TO SELL !! AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY! 2 Story Commercial building in the Heart of Downtown Havre. It features hardwood floors, tall ceilings, and large rooms with open spaces. Restrooms in place. Brick construction. Gas forced air furnace. Updated one piece roofing system. Partial basement for utility access. Call Becky Ross 390-2599.
Land listings 1224 2nd St ~ $94,750
Back on the market!! Very affordable and move in ready!
Call Mike Winchell 390-7679 to view.
621 13th Street ~ $75,900
Very clean move in ready with new updates. This 3 bedroom 2 bath home would make an excellent starter home with a nice oversized garage and yard. Schools and parks just seconds away. Call Mike Winchell at 390-7679 or 265-6766 to view.
Beautiful Ranchette Building Site ~ $120,000 CLOSE TO TOWN ~ 80 acres of unimproved ground East side of Saddle Butte. Fenced, panoramic views! Great place for horse lovers, plan your new home! Easy access from Clear Creek Rd.
Please call Becky Ross 390-2599.
125 2nd Ave. SW Box Elder, MT ~ $62,750
This home is a developers dream! Huge lot on the end of a quiet rd. Lots of room for very little money! Home had a water line freeze and needs repairs to plumbing and flooring due to water damage. Call Mike Winchell 390-7679.
220 Centurian ~ $239,900
Lovely updated split level home just on the market! New siding, roof, windows, updated kitchen and so much more! Tall ceilings in full finished basement with large family room and office. 4 bedrooms and 2 full baths overall. New no- care deck on back, chain link fenced yard, double garage and off street RV parking. Close to schools, University and hospital services. Call Becky Ross 390-2599 to view this great property!
40 Acres West side of Saddle Butte
West side of Saddle Butte Rd. Close to the comforts of town with the serenity and quiet nature of country living. Undeveloped 40 acres to be surveyed off by seller, utilities already nearby.
Call Becky Ross 390-2599 for more details.
440 1st Avenue ~ $125,000
You’ll like this 3 bedroom home on corner lot with full basement ready to be finished. Hardwood floors, updated kitchen, & dining area. Corner lot location with shared garage in rear. Easy walk to downtown and university, too! Call Becky Ross 390-2599 to view.
710 6th Ave SW ~ Gildford, MT ~ $50,000 Large home on over sized lot. This property has lots of potential with just a little work. Sale is As-is.
Call Mike Winchell at 390-7679 or 265-6766 to view.
40 Acres East of Saddle Butte ~ $60,000
Building site with views for a ranchette style property with plenty of elbow room. Endless possibilities with this much space close to town. Please call Becky Ross 390-2599.
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19 Spruce Drive 4 bed 2.5 bath well maintained house. Ready to move into. Double car garage. Extra off-street parking.
1355 Ford Avenue This home has many nice features including a great kitchen with deck access to back yard, 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, family room. Double attached garage , fenced yard, underground sprinklers, and many more. To view this home call Cindy: 406-265-0949
1639 1st Street ~ Havre 2 bed, 1 bath, updated kitchen, fenced yard, 1-Car garage, Good off-street parking.
216 Michigan Ave Big Sandy, MT One level home, 2 bedroom, 1 bath. Carport and extra storage sheds. 2 lots with plenty of space. Call Cindy to view this property today: 406-265-0949
1506 5th St ~ Havre 2 bed, 1 bath, recently updated, detached oversized 1 car garage with workshop area, fenced yard. Affordably priced at $68,500
836 Indiana Street ~ Chinook 4 bed, 3 bath home, wood floors on main level, large open kitchen/dining/living area, off-street parking and underground sprinklers.
2020 Heritage Dr. Ready to move into home, 4 bed 2 bath, Full basement, 2-car attached garage, fenced yard, beautiful enclosed sunporch. 1104 5th St 3 bedroom, 2 full bath home. Room for parking off the alley. Small garage. Affordably priced at $74,900.
3401 13th St W 5 Bed, 3 bath home, open room concept, large rooms, fenced yard, great storage, double attached garage, detached shop (30 x 40), deck
48920 Eagle Rock RD Lovely brick home with just under 5,000 sq ft of living, located on +/- 44.3 acres in Eagle Rock Estates with great views! Updates to home include new metal roof, new windows & new carpet on the main floor. Property includes nice sized shop, barn, corrals & is also fenced to take care of your livestock needs. Ride your horse from the barn to Beaver Creek Park!
1202 McKinley Avenue Nice 3 bedroom, 2 bath home with new kitchen. Full basement. Dishwasher; Elec. Oven/Range; Garage Door Opener; Microwave; Refrigerator. Triple car garage plus an additional single car garage. Large parking pad for RV.
210 1st Avenue W ~ Inverness This is a well kept, beautiful house, with newer windows, siding and roof. Great workable kitchen, with large dining room, living room is very spacious, master bedroom is oversized with office adjoining, LOTS of storage. Very nice roomy home. A must see!
5151 Shepherd Rd ~ Havre 3 + bed, 2 bath, over 8 fenced acres, corral for livestock, close to golf course, good southern view.
LAND LISTINGS
Country Property for Sale 5 acres m/l adjacent to Beaver Creek, features modular home site with RV hook-up, sprinkler system, 10x20 well house, complete water/sewer & electrical systems and partially fenced horse pasture with barn. Contact Jim for more info. Bear Paw Ranch Approximately 2950 acres south of Warrick, MT. Ranch has been conservatively managed. Abundant wildlife.
269 Acres East of Dodson Agent Owned Over 210 acres irrigated cropland, some gated pipe. Approximately 3/8 mile Milk River with native cottonwoods. Frontage US Hwy access.
COMMERCIAL LISTINGS 130 1st St NW ~ Rudyard This is a doll house, cute, updated, clean, Move in! Triple car garage, Great yard! Very affordable home. Need 24 hr notice to show home.
Commercial Building Large renovated metal building, formerly known as the Plainsman Sports Bar and Steakhouse, approximately 4,392 sq ft under roof, 3.47 acres on busy US Highway 2, great parking on large lot, updated private sanitation system, private water supply, potential to convert to warehouse, residential housing, apartment complex, etc. Commercial Lots Commercial lots located in Havre with US HW 2 and 15th Avenue access. Possible owner financing!
26881 US-87 ~ Carter Property consists of 3.71 acres with Bar/ Restaurant and 1.32 acres with modular home.
1015 14th St W 4 bedroom home, 2 baths, approximately 2592 sq. ft. Large lot with double car garage.
Shop- 9th Street East 1.5 Acre lot, office, 3 large overhead doors, 1 drive through bay, partially fenced.
Northern Tire, LLC Building Prime commercial building formerly used for Eddy’s Bakery, approximately 8,570 sq ft of multi-purpose retail/commercial space, multiple overhead access doors for numerous uses, excellent on-site and off-street parking, available for lease!
BRING ON THE
HEAT BEING WITHOuT POWEr IN WINTEr cAN BrING SErIOuS THrEAT TO MEMBErS OF A HOuSEHOld ANd THE HOuSE ITSElF, BuT HOMEOWNErS cAN cOMBAT THIS dANGEr WITH THE rIGHT BAckuP HEATING SYSTEM. STOrY BY PAM BurkE PHOTOS BY JAkE SHANE It happens sooner or later every year in north-central Montana, whether we like it or not, whether we are prepared or not: winter arrives, and its extreme cold and treacherous weather systems are hard on everyone and everything exposed to it, including the area’s power grid. As diligently as local power companies work to keep their electrical supply systems fully functioning, winter can take its toll with long periods of extreme low temperatures stressing transformers which can then fail, vehicles losing control on slick roads and taking out power poles and heavy snow or ice storms damaging
whole sections of power lines. Without electricity, even gas furnaces won’t work, but you can install a safe backup heating source that will keep you warm no matter what happens to the electrical system. If you’re looking for backup heat, you’re looking at either wood or gas, said Andy Henson, stove and spa tech at Frontier Spas and Stoves, and each homeowner has to consider the pros and cons of each when choosing.
Wood
The biggest downfall of wood stoves and fireplaces, Henson said, is the labor. Whether you are cutting, hauling and stacking the wood yourself or paying someone else to do it, that sweat equity has to be accounted for. “Once the installation is in (and you have the wood), you don’t have to worry, you can have no power forever. As long as you’ve got wood, you’ll stay warm,” he said. Wood stoves are sized specifically for the space to be heated, he said, whether the it’s 1,000 square feet or 3,000. Of course, the larger the home to be heated, the larger the firebox to hold more wood, so the larger the stove and the more space it will take up. The good news, Henson said, is that modern wood stoves are side chilled, so they can fit closer to walls and even
furniture, even without power for the fans. Pellet stoves are less labor intensive and a little cleaner than wood stoves which can mean bark and other detritus being tracked in, but if the power goes out, they only operate with a backup power source like a generator to operate it without main power to the house, Henson said. Some models have been equipped with both alternating and direct current, allowing the pellet stove to operate on a battery “I’m not sure how many companies still make them, but I did have a couple in at one time. That was a plus on
that, so if your power did go out you’d still have your pellet stove ,” he said. “But if you only have the electric model, if you don’t have a generator, you don’t have no heat. So that’s a downfall.”
Gas
Gas heaters, either natural gas or propane, are the most clean and least labor intensive sources of backup heat, Henson said. As long as the gas continues to flow and the pilot light is set, you’ll have heat, he said. “That’s the most efficient, clean (source of backup heat). You don’t have to worry about hauling any wood in,” Henson
Above Photo: Richard Green heats up his garage with his wood stove.
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said. “Pellet stoves, you have to carry your pellets in and take your ashes out, too.” Gas stoves are easy to regulate for heat output, some of them even coming with a remote control One caution with the gas stove is to make sure that it is the type that vents either out a wall or through the roof, or risk carbon monoxide poisoning which causes several deaths each year in Montana.
Installation
“If they’re handy and they’ve got a head on their shoulders,” Henson said, people can install these stoves themselves. They need to check on the installation specifications and follow the instructions carefully. Some of the particulars people will have to understand are how far the stove has to be from the wall and high traffic areas, the required size of stove pipe, clearance between the stove pipe
and ceiling, insulation and roof materials, when to use double- and triple-walled stove pipe, how to get a good seal around the stove pipe where it exits the roof and how to ensure against downdraft problems caused by roof peaks, Henson said. “Stove pipe, it does get pretty pricey,” he said. “A 4-foot stick (or length of stovepipe) of your doublewall, insulated, is 250 bucks,” so a basic, simple wood stove installation for a 2,200 home would cost about $2,900 for the stove and $1,500 to $1,600 for stove pipe and other installation parts. A gas stove for the equivalent square footage would cost a little less, Henson said, and the installation would likely be less, too, because the vent pipe doesn’t have to be insulated. That installation cost would be even cheaper with a gas stove that vents out the wall. The gas line, though, should be put in by a licensed
plumber. Henson said Frontier can build a fireproof hearth for either type of stove, they just send customers to a tile supplier like Valley Furniture to pick out a tile for them to use. He also pointed out that homeowners can build their own hearth out of 2-by-4s, plywood and tile and just set this hearth on top of existing flooring. People can do a lot of this work themselves if they just use common sense, he said. While the initial investment to add a second heat source to a home isn’t cheap, the added comfort and security for backup heating when the power is out, or the temperatures are bitter might be worth the investment. With the glass-covered access doors in front showing the glow of warm fire, the ambiance is a nice perk, too.
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Money Saving Tips • Fireplaces look nice, but they waste the most heat up the flue, Henson said. Even a gas stove insert in a fireplace will be inefficient when compared to a free-standing stove which radiates heat into the room from all sides as well as the top and bottom. If you are adding an insert to a fireplace, Henson recommends the models that stick out into the room about a foot. They look like a wood stove, he said, and the part that protrudes from the fireplace gains you the extra radiated heat. • The website Woodheat.org says a cord of wood is 4-feet high, 4-feet wide and 8-feet long, but the amount of wood in a cord depends on factors like whether or not the wood is pre-split and if it’s stacked tightly. Whole chunks of logs leave especially large gaps in a wood stack. The site cautions against buying a truckload of wood which is impossible to judge for the exact amount of wood being purchased. Also, the site says, make sure the wood is cut to a length that will fit into your stove or fireplace, and that it is not green wood which doesn’t burn well and creates more chimneyclogging creosote. A random survey of the Facebook page “Havre,MT- online yard sale” showed local sellers asking $125 for a loosely stacked load of firewood, level with the top edge of the pickup box. • Buy pellets by the pallet — bulk is cheaper. Henson said pallets are selling for about $255 each with 40-50 bags per pallet. People are reporting using about one bag per day when using the pellet stove as their only heat source. • Henson said that several contractors and companies, like Frontier, can clean chimneys once or twice a year, but if you can access your chimney safely, it’s pretty easy to do it yourself and the brush is pretty inexpensive. • Invest in a gas stove labeled as energy efficient; it will use less fuel, says NorthWestern Energy guidelines. It may also provide a fuel-price break through NorthWestern Energy or even a tax break, but check with NWE and tax codes before making the purchase if either possibility is going to drive a major decision. • If you’re using propane to fuel a gas stove, keep track of prices throughout the year to know when they are low. Generally, though, propane prices are lowest in late summer.
Q
is for
QUILTING
“Quilters are one of the most sharing groups of people,” said Wendy Gerky. “... Quilters always seem to be willing to share their knowledge.” Along with that sharing of knowledge among themselves, local quilters also bring in nationally acclaimed and professional quilters for workshops and demonstrations.
STORY BY PAM BURKE PHOTOS BY JAKE SHANE While quilt-making has the general reputation of being a practical craft practiced by women of old and kept alive only by quaint tradition, the craft — and the art — of quilt-making is alive and well, and it’s thriving in north-central Montana. Virtually every town has at least one group of quilters — Chinook, Harlem, Chester and Turner — and Havre has more than one, said Wendy Gerky, owner of Bearly Square Quilting. One of the fascinating things about quilting, said Gerky, is that each quilt is unique because the quilters themselves have unique visions of a finished piece. “You get something out of a big piece of fabric — you cut it and sew it back together and you get something more,” she said about quilting, adding that it’s an activity suited for everyone. Beginning quilters can buy a small project in kit form that has a pattern, detailed instructions and all the fabric chosen and precut, so the new quilter can concentrate on sewing techniques, learning the new terminology as it applies to the steps and pieces in the project, and honing their skills. Slightly more advanced kits, she said, might have the fabric precut into strips, but the quilter will have to cut the individual shapes from these strips. Progressing out of kits, quilters can start with a pattern for a block and create something unique with their own particular fabric choices, and they can make their own patterns altogether. “You learn as you go and build up the skill level from there,” Gerky said. “You learn from experiJANUARY 2015 | LIVING Havre and the Hi-Line MAGAZINE |
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enced quilters and you store that information. “Quilters are one of the most sharing groups of people,” she added. “... Quilters always seem to be willing to share their knowledge.” Along with that sharing of knowledge among themselves, local quilters also bring in nationally acclaimed and professional quilters for workshops and demonstrations. This level of instruction is available locally largely because of the efforts of the members of the Hi-Line Quilt Guild which member Suzanne Huston describes as a supportive quilting group where learning can take place through this high-level instruction as well as instruction from and sharing between members. Havre, added Huston, has been known around the state as a stronghold of serious quilters.
Hi-Line Quilt Guild has 36 members from a wide area around Havre and one member as far away as Whitehall. Gerky said visitors from Canada come to the area to check out the quilting scene,
and tourists from across the U.S. find local fabric shops and quilt shows in the “Quilters’ Travel Companion,” an inch-thick quilter’s travel guide.
PORTRAIT of a Quilter Havre quilter Suzanne Huston brings an intensity and an artist’s eye to the craft of quilting. Huston said she grew up in a household that encouraged art
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and experimentation not just with standard art supplies, but also with any bits and pieces, tools and media that could be fashioned into art. She also learned to sew, in self-defense.
Because she was a tall girl in an era when that was a bit unusual, she had to make her own clothing to have anything that fit her. Later, as an adult, when she felt she needed a few hours a week away from parenting her little kids, she took an art class offered through adult education. This class seemed to reawaken her artistic drive, she said, and eventually she started teaching the class herself. “I’ve always felt like I learned more (teaching) because I had to dig and work hard at it,” she said. “As a result, that’s what I did.” The sentiment behind the
organizers at that time, Huston said, was that the art class was an opportunity to “let the little old ladies come and paint.” “And I thought, ‘Hmmm, that isn’t what I want,’” she added, and took the risk that she would alienate some students for the sake of those who wanted what she offered. What Huston wanted was an art instructor to push her to grow, so that is the art instructor she became for others, creating lesson plans and exercises that would push the artists beyond their comfort zone. She said her methods about tripled attendance in the class. “I said, maybe what I’m
doing proves that people wanted to really learn more,” she said. Continuing along this artist’s route had been her plan, but that changed when her husband, Steve Huston, was injured and his recovery needs precluded her studio and teaching time. “But I still had to have something creative and because I was a seamstress I thought, oh, I’ll just make quilts. And that was the start of it,” she said. “By the time he recovered, I was hooked. “The quilting was, I thought, far more difficult than the artwork because the way I n continued on page 16
Some terms to get people started • Cutting and Piecing: This is the process of cutting the fabric and sewing the pieces of cloth together in a pattern. Most quilt-makers forgo using scissors in favor of a straight edge and a rotary cutter, which looks like a pizza cutter, that is rolled along the straight edge for faster and cleaner fabric cuts. • Block: Most quilt patterns are designed to be pieced together in blocks, or square patches, of fabrics. These blocks are then sewn together to make an entire quilt top. • Borders and Binding: Some patterns call for a border to be sewn around each block and many patterns have
a border around the entire quilt top. Binding is a relatively narrow band of cloth sewn around the edge of a quilt to finish off the fabric ends. • Focal fabric: A fabric that is used repeatedly in all, or nearly all, of the pieced blocks of a quilt top. It both draws the eye of the viewer and visually ties together the individual blocks to make them look unified, like a rhythm in a song. • Appliqué: Sometimes the cut fabric pieces are sewn to the top of the blocks. This process is called appliqué, and it gives the quilt a threedimensional effect. It also allows for elaborate shapes to be added to the quilt without having to painstakingly piece
them into the fabrics of the blocks. • Quilting: This term can actually be confusing because it is commonly used when people are talking about quiltmaking, but it also specifically refers to the process by which a quilt is assembled and finished. Quilts consist of the pieced top, a batten or filler layer, and the back fabric, which is often a plainer-type fabric. These three layers are quilted together with a pattern of stitching that complements the design of the quilt, including the print designs in the fabrics. For example, a fall-colored quilt might have a leaf-based pattern of quilting stitches.
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was approaching quilting, you still had to do artwork,” she said. “Basically, I would have to do my drawings of what I wanted to depict and then figure out how to put the quilt together … and I didn’t know any of the quilting mechanics. I knew sewing mechanics.” She found that in the quilting world some people and techniques were highly disciplined and regimented — to the point of not being off even one stitch — but she could see that as she focused on the exacting mechanics of a project, her creative side shut down. She worked at the quilting process until she found an answer to continue quilting, but with a system that didn’t sacrifice her creativity. “Can I do the other? You bet,” she said. “I love to copy an antique quilt, or the mechanics of the antique quilts that are really meaty. I think you learn a lot because there are some techniques that they aren’t even particularly using today to speak of. “I do that occasionally, but it’s just to hone my skills. You have to keep doing a little bit of everything or you lose the ability,” she added. “I am a stickler.” Huston has applied the same passion and drive into her quilting that she showed as an artist and art instructor, learning historical aspects of quilt-making and fabrics, along with modern techniques, taking classes with master quilters, learning to dye her own fabrics, maintain-
ing and repairing her own sewing machines, and teaching others. Everybody who gets into quilting does so for their own reasons, she said, whether it’s for the social aspect, as a casual or a serious hobby, or for reasons that delve deeper. Huston is the intense type of quilter who created, labeled and still references sample cloths of how various weights and types of threads sew under each incremental change of tension settings on her sewing machine. She laughs with wholehearted gusto over how obsessive that sounds, but is unapologetic for it all the same. “What my friend said was ‘Suzanne, you’ve got to realize that not everybody is as
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intense as you are.’ And so the way she said it, I said, ‘So are you saying that’s a bad thing?’ because, I said, I think everybody needs a passion. I think that makes you who you are. And I could tell she meant it as ‘why don’t you just back down a little bit,’ and my feeling on it was, you know, I’m not forcing anybody else to do this, and it’s just me, and if I get enthusiastic that’s OK, and if it bugs you, don’t hang with me,” she said, ending the comment with another hearty laugh. She quilts in a large, window-lined room filled with work tables and several sewing machines, along with other tools and supplies of the trade, including a wide selection of fabrics filling rows of shelves and several storage
closets. Having a large stash of fabrics is a condition common to all quilters, but Huston doesn’t just buy it in yards and quarters, she buys whole bolts of fabric, too, and sells some to other quilters. Two boxers sleep on dog beds tucked in among a few pieces of comfortable furniture clustered in one corner. A few of her quilts, finished and in-progress, original designs for future projects and various pieces artwork by other artists lay scattered like treasures around the room. One wide wall in the room is covered in plain, white flannel, and it holds blocks of an unfinished quilt in place without having to pin them. It doesn’t take an experienced viewer to see that this quilt-inthe-making is not a common project on display. These blocks, of all different sizes and decorated in colorful images of folk art designs, are part of a project — dubbed The Bag Lady Challenge — she is working on with a group of serious quilters who meet at her house every Wednesday. The group of 13 like-minded quilters is past the halfway mark of this project that has stretched the artistry of each member, Huston said, and “challenges us to think in new ways.” The group came up with 13 different quilt projects — with names like folk art, kaleidescope, African, fiesta, Japanese taupe and civil War, aka the “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn” quilt —
and each month each quilter creates one block for one of the quilts then rotates the project on to the next person the next month. The challenge comes on many levels, Huston added. They have to design a block fitting the style, techniques and fabrics appropriate to each topic, incorporating a focal fabric for each quilt. As the number of blocks increases, they also have to work to ensure an overall unity in the blocks so they each help to pull the quilt together and, in the end, will have to figure the best way to piece the blocks together to complete the picture. “In putting it together, you could really change the look of it,” she said about how the quilts change with each block addition and will do so one last time as each quilt is finished by one of the group
members. Each quilter will have contributed one originally designed and created block for each of the themed quilts by the end of the project. At that time, the group members will draw for quilt names, and each will end up with a quilt project to finish and keep for herself. “They’re all kind of hardcore quilters, but totally different in their approach … and we don’t care. We’re supportive,” she said, adding that “the other thing I like to do, and this group seems to like to do, is we like to learn and learn pretty continuously.” And though Huston was talking about her vast collection of fabrics, this last statement sums up Huston in life and her approach to quilting: “That intensity I have, it carries throughout.”
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Grateful Bread
Not your average soup and sandwich place STORY BY PAM BURKE PHOTOS BY JAKE SHANE Every professional had to start out at the bottom somewhere, and for bread baker and restaurant owner Rick Neuwerth that start came as a baker’s helper to his mother, Carolyn, when he was 5 years old. With a family of eight to feed, one day every week she baked 15 to 20 loaves of bread and, Rick said, he started out
fetching containers of flour tha she kept stored in the original cloth sacks in a closet. Later, he graduated to greasing the bread pans. Over the years, Rick learned the entire baking process from his mother, and when he was out on his own he’d bake bread for church functions and special occasions. Eventually, he real-
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ized people were clamoring for his bread, and he started selling it at craft sales alongside his longtime friend Dottie Wilson who was selling her homemade cookies. The plan was to use the proceeds from his bread sales to start a restaurant, and he lured in clientele by saving one loaf of dough to bake in a toaster
oven while set up at the sale. The aroma of fresh, baking bread filled the building and brought people to the table. “We’d get to the point that the craft shows would start at 10, right, and we’d be pulling up at a quarter to 10 to unload our goodies and people would be taking it right out of our vehicles,” he said. “... And we’d set up and we’d be done selling in about an hour.” From this beginning, he said, Grateful Bread was born. Rick and his wife, Sheila, opened Grateful Bread in the lower level of the Atrium Mall a little more than five years ago, and they brought Dottie into the venture, too. She works at the restaurant, and her cookies are sold there on commission. To say that Grateful Bread is a soup and sandwich restaurant is like saying the Mona Lisa is an oil painting. Technically, the phrase is correct, but it falls short of capturing the artistry behind the work. Rick goes to work at 4 a.m. six days a week to start the day’s fresh bread, baking about 54 loaves each day of his standard five varieties. Once a week or so he bakes a batch of one of his four specialty breads. All the sandwiches come with a choice of these breads, and whole loaves are sold for takehome, as well. One of the hardest things to do with bread, Rick said, is to scale a recipe up or down. The ingredients for one loaf can’t simply be multiplied by 10 to make 10 loaves because the ratio of yeast, salt, sugar and flour isn’t consistent, he said. Rick has shared his mother’s original Old-fashioned White Bread recipe, scaled down for two loaves. JANUARY 2015 | LIVING Havre and the Hi-Line MAGAZINE |
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Old-fashioned White Bread
Makes two loaves
6 cups (or 2 pounds) of unbleached white flour 2 1/2 teaspoons instant dry yeast 2 tablespoons sugar 2 teaspoons salt 2 cups lukewarm water 3 tablespoons canola oil In a bowl add yeast to lukewarm water, stir in sugar then add oil. Stir in two cups of flour and the salt, then stir in flour gradually until dough is stiff enough to be turned out on the counter to knead. Lightly flour the counter surface
and knead in remaining flour until dough is smooth and silky feeling. Return dough to lightly greased bowl, cover bowl with Saran wrap or a damp towel and allow dough to rise until approximately doubled in size — about
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two hours. Punch dough down, divide in half and shape each half into a loaf. Place each loaf of dough into an 8-inch loaf pan. Cover and let this rise until approximately doubled in size. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 45 minutes.
647 5th Ave N ~ $98,000 Enjoy this nice little home located right next to a small park. Owning may be cheaper than renting here? Newer windows, newer furnace/ac. Two car garage! Sellers are offering $2,000 in buyer closing costs/prepaids!
1616 Juniper Drive ~ $223,000 Nice 5 bedroom, 2 bath home. New roof and exterior paint!
925 7th St ~ $205,000 Three large bedrooms on main floor. LARGE Master bedroom incorporates the master bath and large closets, and still room for that king size bed. Open floor plan makes it great for entertaining as well as raising kids! EASY TO SHOW - Clean and priced to move quickly.
129 & 131 10th Avenue ~ $66,000 Multi-Family property priced to sell! Use as investment property or live in one and rent out the other 1410 2nd St. ~ $65,000 Nice private little home hidden behind a mature landscape. Very inexpensive to heat/cool. Low Taxes. Oversized garage and a storage shed for all extras. Located on its own private lot.
812 6th St. ~ $138,000 Great starter home with 2 up and 2 nonconforming bedrooms down. Double garage, fenced back yard and enclosed back patio.
615 8th Ave ~ $142,500 This nice home is move in ready in a quiet location on a corner lot! 2 bedrooms, 1 bath on the main floor and 1 non-conforming bedroom and 3/4 bath in the basement. Single attached garage with additional parking. Hurry before this home is gone!
910 Montana Ave ~ $135,000 Cute log sided home near MSUN, walk out basement and mature landscaping with many perennials including a herb garden. Main level laundry/mudroom, fire place, and pellet stove.
58 Saddle Butte Dr. ~ $169,000 Seller is offering $3,500 toward buyer closing costs! Nice family home located in a great neighborhood. Close to the Hospital. Main floor laundry, newer kitchen, 2 bedrooms and full bath up. One non-conforming bedroom and bath down. Fenced backyard w/underground sprinklers.
611 4th Ave ~ $110,000 This cute little cottage is cozy and quaint. Great downtown location. What used to be a single garage is now a bonus room for you to customize as you wish, turn it into a man cave, artists studio or guest room.
506 2nd Ave SE Harlem, MT ~ $89,900 Cozy 3 bedroom home in Harlem. Garage and extra lot with huge garden. Must see! 47592 County Road 100 S ~ $225,000 This is a great place to raise your family and have some horses, or maybe you would like to have a nice retirement home near the Bears Paw Mountains and Beaver Creek Park.
1231 3rd St ~ $51,000 2 bedroom, 1 bath home with office/den. Bathroom and flooring updated in 2012. Currently being used as rental property. 616 7th Avenue ~ $230,000 2 houses, with a 3 plex in the large house and a small 1 bedroom house that stands alone.
705 5th Ave ~ $345,000 10 units total. Rental income is $3470/Month. Great rental history. Also has a coin laundry facility.
623 9th Ave ~ $90,000 Great starter home! 2 bedrooms, 1 bath up and large non-conforming bedroom down. Lots of storage space. Private backyard!
211 Norman Ave ~ Joplin, MT ~ $32,000 3 bedroom, 2 bath home. Newer siding, roof, windows and exterior doors. 1988 2nd St. W ~ $315,000 Great commercial building West of town. Beautifully remodeled office space with attached 40’ X 50’ heated shop, break room with custom built cabinets and additional storage space upstairs. Very well maintained!
1903 5th Ave ~ $370,000 Here’s your opportunity to let out your skills and become a restaurant owner! Everything you need to get started is here. Call for your personal viewing today.
160 6th Ave W ~ $245,000 Great business location. Shell building with office/bath. Open basement. Heated separate shop/garage.
LOTS FOR SALE 626 2nd St ~ $70,000 Huge commercial intermediate lot for sale. Diagonally across the street south of IGA grocery store. 180'X147'.
junior
HOCKEY
they have a love of hockey and a hope that it can take them along a path toward bigger and better things in life
STORY BY CHRIS PETERSON PHOTOS BY JAKE SHANE
Havre has always been a community that supports hockey in a big way. The Havre Ice Hawks hockey program has enjoyed many years of success. But this year, Havre has welcomed a new kind of hockey in town — junior hockey. The name junior hockey can sometimes be misleading. The word junior tends to make people think of young kids and while there are some youngsters on the Glacier Nationals junior hockey team that relocated to Havre this past summer, most of the roster is comprised of 18- to 20-year-old players who are looking to advance their hockey career to the college or professional level. That is, in essence, what junior hockey is all about. But for
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the Glacier Nationals and junior hockey programs just like them all around the country, their mission is to develop these players not just on the ice, but also off the ice, helping them to become adults, college students and in rare cases, professional hockey players. “I spend a lot of my time talking to scouts and colleges, trying to get these guys scholarships or moved up to the next level,” Nationals head coach Rob Powell said. “That’s our goal. But we also are trying to teach these guys how to be men. For a lot of them, this is the first time that they have been away from home. They have to learn how to be independent and responsible, and I think it’s important that they learn those things on their own. “Anymore, colleges are really interested in junior hockey players that are 19 and 20 years old,” he added. “The colleges have found that these players have already been away from home and have already went through that maturing process, so they are much more likely to stick with it and much less likely to quit or leave the program.” The Nationals play in the North American Tier 3 Hockey League, which is one of the top pay for play junior hockey leagues in the country. The league is also affiliated with the North American Hockey League, which is the only Tier 2 junior hockey league in the country affiliated with USA Hockey.
LUND The partnership with the NAHL is critical for the Nationals and the NA3HL because it gives teams like the Nationals the ability to send their players directly into the league through promotion. Essentially, the NA3HL works as a minor league of sorts for the NAHL and once a player advances to the Tier 2 level, he no longer has to pay to play. Not only does the NAHL cover the cost of player expenses, it gives players a truly genuine opportunity to find their way into the National Hockey League or get offered scholarships from top NCAA universities. Just last season, the NAHL had 99 alumnus
that were playing in the NHL and many were drafted directly from the NAHL. So while, it may seem like a long shot for some of the Nationals’ players to reach the promise land of professional hockey, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. One player who is hoping to have some type of hockey career beyond the junior level is Glacier goaltender Ryan Lund. A 20-year-old Anchorage, Alaska native, Lund has been one of the top players for the Nationals this season and, thanks to a recent string of strong playing, he is starting to garner interest from colleges, which was his main goal when he came to Havre
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to play for the Nationals. “I love playing hockey and I have really enjoyed being part of this community. Havre really supports us and that has been a great thing to be a part of,” Lund said. “Hopefully, we can win some more games and bring some pride to the community. But my goal has been to play college hockey. I have had four or five that have shown interest in me since I’ve have been here. I won’t say who they are but two or three have shown a real strong interest in me, and I’m really excited about that, so hopefully I can keep playing well and keep that interest coming.” Lund, who is the old-
“I spend a lot of my time talking to scouts and colleges, trying to get these guys scholarships or moved up to the next level,” Nationals head coach Rob Powell said. “That’s our goal. But we also are trying to teach these guys how to be men.” Rob Powell Nationals Head Coach est player on the Nationals roster, credits coach Powell for helping him in his quest to play college hockey, but their relationship goes beyond that of player and coach because
GAMBLIN
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the two are also roommates. That brings to light another unique part of playing junior hockey, and that is getting out and living on your own. But with hockey taking up such a huge part of their lives, with games, practice, weight lifting, film and other responsibilities, few players are able to find time to work part-time jobs, so that means they live with the coach, with general manager Butch Kowalka, with each other or with billet families, who get a monthly stipend from the team to feed and house the players. “I definitely do most of the cooking,” Powell said. “And I have to get on them a little bit to clean their rooms and stuff like that. But for the most part, I leave it up to them. I don’t go wake them up if we have a meeting or practice. I tell them what time they need to be there and maybe remind them before they go to bed, but other than that they take care of things themselves, which I think is important.” “Living with the coach
comes with a different responsibility,” Lund said. “You definitely have to be home by the curfew on game night and midnight curfew during the week. You definitely have to live within the rules when the coach lives in the room right next to yours.” While Lund lives with coach Powell, others on the team have their own living arrangements such as Gavin Lubin, 19, who like Lund is from Anchorage, Alaska, and Matt Gamblin, 20, who is from the town of Cranberry Portage, Canada, which has a population of 572. Gamblin, who is of Native American heritage, lives with Lubin and two other teammates in a studio apartment, and while they are probably happy to not be living with their head coach, living with three other hockey players in a small apartment comes with its own challenges. “I love it. I live with a great group of guys,” Gamblin said. “But our days are very busy. We are always cleaning up because it gets messy with four guys in a studio apartment and then doing all the stuff
LUBIN we do with hockey. But I have been away from home playing junior hockey since I was 16. I didn’t want to work in the winter, it gets pretty cold where I’m from in the winter and I decided I’d rather play hockey.”
Like Gamblin, Lubin is motivated to play hockey because he loves it, but he is also committed to junior hockey because he has aspirations of advancing his hockey career and has his sights sets on playing college hockey.
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“I want to keep going and get to the next level,” Lubin said. “I want to play college hockey and make my family proud and do what I can to get to that next level.” The motivation to move up exists in one way or another with every player on the Nationals roster. No one would move away from their family and dedicate their life to hockey if they didn’t love it and if they had no aspirations of playing college or even professional hockey one day. Yet, it’s one thing for 19or 20-year-olds such as Lubin or Lund to move away from home. That’s the time most kids go to college or go off
and start a career. It’s normal. But, it’s quite another for someone like Blake Evennou, who is just 16 years old and the youngest member of the team, to leave his home and his family in pursuit of his dreams on the ice. Evennou, who is from Macomb, Michigan, has an even busier schedule than many of his teammates due to the fact that he has to attend classes at Havre High School, while also meeting his commitments on the ice. “It makes it tougher, that’s for sure,” Evennou said. “A lot of the guys just play hockey, so that’s all they have to worry about. That would be better
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obviously, but I am just going to do my best in school and hockey and see where that takes me.” Evennou is also one of few Nationals players that lives with a host family here in Havre, which is mostly due to his age. But even living with a family, he has more responsibility than your average 16-year-old kid as he balances school, hockey and home life. “It has been a blast so far, playing with 19- and 20-yearolds and kind of living on my own, it’s been an adjustment but I have really enjoyed it,” Evennou said. “I don’t do as much stuff at home as I do with my billet family. I definitely clean a lot more, do dishes and things I wouldn’t normally do at home, but you feel more obligated to take care of things like that — but it’s been good.” Each and every player who suits up for the Nationals has their own background and their own story but they are united by one thing — their love of hockey and their hope that it can take them along a path toward bigger and better things in life. During that journey players learn about life. They learn to become men, they learn responsibility, learn to cook and clean and buy essential things like toilet paper, tooth paste and food. But beyond all that, it’s still about hockey, which is why 25 players who never heard of Havre, Montana, now call it home.
1926 Heritage Dr. ~ $229,000
210 71st Ave. W. ~ $220,000
A Little Bit of Country! 3 bedroom, 2 bath home located 3 miles West of Havre on Hwy 2. New updated kitchen, formal dining, full basement with lots of storage. Fenced yard with gated access to garage/shop on 1 Acre.
Very clean 4 bdrm, 2 bath home on Heritage Drive in Havre's South End near High School. Open floor plan, kitchen/ dining with lots of granite. Fenced back yard & double garage.
Call Janis Flynn Pyrak @265-7845
Call Janis Flynn Pyrak @ 265-7845
11135 River Rd ~ $625,000
Prestigious & updated 5 bdrm, 3 1/2 bath home on 60 Acres! Includes pool, garden area, barn, pasture, paved country road to home & double garage. Good well & sprinkler system. Awesome views of Milk River Basin, Bears Paws & Badlands along the Milk River.
Call Janis Flynn @ 265-7845
7310 County Rd 462 W $750,000
Luxurious home & a piece of the country! Located on +/- 53 acres in parklike setting, approx 3 miles West of Havre. 4 bdrm, 4 bath home w/gourmet kitchen, formal dining & all the pluses. Includes pond w/ fountain, 3 wells, feed crop/pasture & Beaver Creek flowing through it.
428 5th Street N. ~ $199,000 4 bdrm, 2,800+ sq. ft. house with 4 stall garage,full basement, fenced yard. Property includes second 1,200+ sq. ft. house with small garage and 6 trailer lots with storage sheds.
Call/Text John Carlson @ 390-1381
226 2nd St NW ~ Rudyard, MT $72,000
3 bdrm (includes 2 non-conforming bedrooms in basement), 1 bath home in Rudyard, MT. Nice open floor plan with nice updates. Large master suite with patio. New carpets throughout. Large family room with wood stove, triple heated & insulated garage/shop.
Call Janis Flynn Pyrak @ 265-7845
Call Janis Flynn Pyrak @ 265-7845
27 5th Street ~ $119,000
Cute single 2 bedroom, 1 bath home located near Boys & Girls Club. Fenced back yard & oversized single level garage. Excellent rental or starter home.
Call Janis Flynn Pyrak @ 265-7845
4000 Rd-6 miles So. ~ Chester $235,000
3 bedroom, 2 bath home in Chester, MT. Nice country home with wood stove, patio/ deck & dog run. Large yard/garden area, 30 x 30 garage/shop & fenced horse pasture. +/- 5.75 Acres
1015 New York St. ~ Chinook $112,000 Updated 2 bdrm, 2 bath home in Chinook, MT. New windows, new heating & AC system, new master suite addition. Nice yard, oversized single garage/shop area in back with large carport for RV parking.
Call Janis Flynn Pyrak @ 265-7845
103 3rd St. W. ~ Inverness $99,900
Beautifully remodeled 3 bdrm, 1 1/2 bath home w/ good water & shop + outbldgs. Plus 6 lots.
2 bdrm, 1 bath spacious home with country kitchen & large living room. Fenced yard, perennial garden, mature trees, RV & equipment parking in rear & 4 stall garage/shop.
3 bdrm, 1 bath home located on +/-1.3 Acres West of Havre. Includes a 20x60 garage/shop. This property is an ''As Is'' purchase. (Home has had frozen pipes)
410 3rd St. ~ Chester $105,000
Call Janis Flynn Pyrak @ 265-7845
Nice 3 bdrm, 2 bath home in Chester, MT. Fenced back yard, 2 decks, large parking area & attached double garage.
Call Derek Fraser @ 262-4603
1134 Lincoln Ave ~ $125,000
Cute 2 bedroom, 1 bath home in Highland Park.Off street parking in back with garden area, nice double garage and fenced yard.
Call Janis Flynn Pyrak @ 265-7845
4 bdrm on 140 acres ~ $360,000
Call Janis Flynn Pyrak @ 265-7845
HI-LINE LISTINGS 433 Ohio St. ~ Chinook ~ $140,000 3470 MT Hwy 223 ~ Chester ~ $99,000 402 10th Ave ~ Havre ~ $75,000 111 Rehal Ave ~ Joplin ~ $44,00 1007 3rd St ~ Havre ~ $21,000
LOTS FOR SALE
Flood irrigated hay ground near Harlem, MT. Large 4 bdrm, 3 bath MH with basement & detached shop/garage on the edge of town.
177 2nd Ave E ~ Big Sandy $95,000
Call Ken Nelson @ 406-439-0595
Call Paul Kuka @ 406-265-7845
Call Paul Kuka @ 265-2060
509 1st Street ~ Hingham, MT $45,000
7133 US Hwy 87 W ~ $85,000
605 2nd Street ~ $58,900
Four (1) bdrm units close to the downtown area and the High School. Some updating and some new appliances. Good income potential.
Call Janis Flynn Pyrak @ 265-7845
Call Derek Fraser @ 406-262-4603
Building consists of main floor church, sanctuary, office, classroom & bath. Basement has large multi-purpose room, kitchen, 2 baths, storage & furnace rooms. Attic has 2 rooms that could be used as bdrms or storage.
114 5th St E ~ 4-Plex Chinook, MT ~ $140,000
Bullhook Bottoms Casino + Liquor Store ~ $650,000
A large Commercial property that includes a Casino & Liquor License on 1st Street/ Hwy 2 frontage in Havre, MT
Call Ken Nelson at 406-439-0595 or Larry Martinson @ 390-1509
Clean 4 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath home in Big Sandy, MT. Workshop in open basement. Large partially fenced yard/ garden area, large open deck in back, includes storage shed & large detached double garage/shop. New siding & roof on house & garage.
Call Jeanie Cole @ 945-0931
4 Acre Lot East of Torgerson Implement ~ $375,000 Ready to build on with utilities.
COMMERCIAL 4 Acre Lot & 1731 11th St W ~ $35,000 Vacant Lot West of Havre, MT. Includes well. Perfect for mobile/manufactured home. Call Janis Flynn Pyrak @ 265-7845
425 MT Ave. $259,000
In town with Acres of fields to the West. This home sits on 1/2 acre and has close to 4,000 sq ft of finished home with newer kitchen, 2 fireplaces (1 an insert & 1 gas) 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, daylight down stairs and grand entry.
6886 County Road 462 West ~ $299,000
725 11th street ~ $114,900
A great investment for the handyman that is ready for a spring project. Contact Edward Ruff.
A stream runs through it. Walk out the back door to fish in the mornings and afternoons you can walk out the front door and golf. This 15+/- acre farmstead’s home has been completely updated with 2 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms on the main, one non-conforming down, all new flooring, new paint inside & out, newly updated kitchen, a double garage and several outbuildings including an 80’ X 40’ X 16’(sidewalls) shop partially finished and heated.
36 Mooney Coulee lane $80,000
39575 Us Hwy 2 ~ $299,000
Great cabin in Bear Paws. This cabin has its own drilled well and has been used year round by previous owners and all the furnishings stay.
1334 & 1336 4th street ~ $82,000
This wonderful home has had a total remodel with newer kitchen and bathrooms, hardwood floors, 4 bedrooms on the main floor and 4 bathrooms. There are 2 non-conforming bedrooms down and 2 bathrooms down.
Two rental homes with a very good rental history and a very good rental income. Seller has recently lived in each home while he fixed it up inside.
1170 14th Avenue ~ $248,000
619 8th street ~ $62,500
This home is sweet and the price is unbeatable, don’t miss out. This home has been well cared for with many updates to make this a place you would be proud to call home.
Price of ownership says it all for this 4 bedroom 2 bath home. Beautiful mature yard, covered deck with hot tub, fresh new paint in and out, fenced yard, double garage, outbuilding and RV parking. This executive home is priced to sell and a must see to appreciate!
1830 1st street ~ $98,000
This home shows pride of ownership. With a newer kitchen, two bedrooms on the main floor and main floor laundry would make this a great starter home or a nice home for the couple that just wants to size down. The big yard and garden in the back would make a great spot to build a triple garage.
428 lehfeldt Avenue ~ Big sandy
This home was well built and well maintained, with lots of extras including brand new furnace, new hot water heater, new flooring, 2 bedrooms on the main, 2 bathrooms, a finished den downstairs, a huge shop and an attached garage. Offered at $100,000.
1.8 Acres ~ $18,500 Building lot on 2nd St West
1625 31st Avenue ne ~ $249,900
Over 10,000+- Square Foot heated building with updated remodel & addition. City water and sewer to this building and several large overhead doors. The access is great and a finished railroad spur line to this property may be available.
Bad lands Car Wash ~ 413 2nd street $149,900
Downtown car wash, building & car wash on 2 downtown city lots. This is a nice little cash cow.
36+ Acres in town on Water Tank Road $69,700
Building lot in glo-ed $41,000
This acreage is 36.7+- acres in the city. Very seldom do you find acreage inside the city limits at a price too good to pass up.
Lot 2 Block 1.
great Falls, MT - River View 2.7 +/- Acre Building lot $69,000 with a great view of the River. Plat #3997, Lot 3 Heaven View.
406-945-9039 www.havrehilinerealty.net
let me, Kim Cripps, help you with your homework!
120 1st st ne~Rudyard, MT~ $15,000 2 bedroom, one level home for $15,000. Plus a double garage.
561 1/2 5th st north ~ $39,900 One level, 2 bedroom home.
436 8th Ave n ~ $49,900 2 bedrooms, 1 bath. Garage and fenced yard. 1328 2nd st ~ $41,000 One level, 2 bedroom on a spacious lot. Sold as is.
24-26 6th street ~ $65,000 Side by side duplex.
805 6th street ~ $125,000 3 bedrooms, hardwood fl oors and private yard.
510 6th street ~ $94,900 2 bedroom downtown location, open fl oor plan. Private fenced yard and off street parking.
1190 26th Ave West ~ $129,900 One level, 1/2 acre.
1008 19th st ~ $149,900 3 bedroom, 2 bath home. Private fenced in yard, off street parking. Must see! 829 16th street ~ $155,000 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, double garage and fi nished basement. Great location. 4205 70th Ave W ~ $154,900 One level living. One level home with abundance of parking and storage.
SOLD/SALE PENDING 635 2nd st W ~ $85,000 611 10th st ~ $89,900
I PROVIDE NOTARY SERVICES
123 8th Ave ~ $59,900
LISTINGS ARE NEEDED
806 17th st ~ $135,900
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lOrrAINE HAS BEEN AcTIVE IN TEAcHING rEAdING HEr ENTIrE lIFE. SHE WAS A SPEcIAl EducATION TEAcHEr ANd BEcAME A TEAcHEr OF TEAcHErS, HElPING EducATOrS lEArN HOW BEST TO TEAcH rEAdING ONE-ON-ONE TO STudENTS AT rISk. SHE’S CONVINCED — ANd STudIES BAck HEr uP — THAT THE BEST TEACHER OF rEAdING IS THE PArENT.
STOrY BY JOHN kEllEHEr PHOTOS BY JAkE SHANE
Lorraine
Verploegen COMMUNITY PROFILE
lorraine Verploegen has a picture of her family when they were younger. Her husband was on the couch reading a book. Her 6-year-old son was reading a newspaper. And her daughter, age 18 months, was on the
floor reading a Herberger’s advertising insert from the newspaper. The Herberger’s ad was upside down, making it hard for her daughter to comprehend just what the sales were that week.
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But the picture reinforces what lorraine has long believed: kids emulate their parents reading habits. lorraine has been active in teaching reading her entire life. She was a special education teacher and became a
teacher of teachers, helping educators learn how best to teach reading one-on-one to students at risk. She’s convinced — and studies back her up — that the best teacher of reading is the parent. Lorraine has organized the local Plant A Seed...Read program that provides ageappropriate books to children from birth to 5 years old. They get them monthly in the mail. Many young people, she said, look forward to the date the books come in the mail. Parents are encouraged to read the books to their children. Such activities open doors to children that most people can’t imagine, she said. That’s why Plant a Seed... Read encourages parents to read to their children 15 minutes a day, she said. From birth to age 3, young people’s brains make tremendous advances, she said. By the time they enter kindergarten, she said, kids who have worked on reading with parents know twice as many words as classmates who have not, she said. The gap only grows as years go on, she said. The average young person has watched 5,000 hours of television by the time they start kindergarten, Lorraine said. That’s as many hours as it takes to earn a bachelor’s degree, she said. Watching television can be very important for the development of young people, especially educational pro-
gramming, but it is insignificant compared to the value of reading. Reading a good book is a great bonding experience for children and parents, she said. “Is there anything better than sharing a good book with a child in your lap,” she asked. Children see from the look on the parents faces that reading is fun and interesting, she said. People might think that youngsters don’t comprehend what is being read to them, she said, but they understand that reading is important and they make a connection between the words being read to them and the photos they see in the book. They are likely to develop a love of reading that will remain for life, she said. She’s especially excited about the number of new books coming out that are non-fiction books that tell the stories on animals or plants that are valuable for kids to learn about. The local Plant A Seed... Read program is funded through a number of contributions from community groups ranging from the Optimists to Town Pump to the Havre Public Schools Education Foundation. The program has been highly successful. The number of children participating has increased and kids and parents seem to be enjoying it. Lorraine is looking for funding for the Hill County project for extension to surrounding counties, but she’s
hesitant to seek funds from local business and community groups that are already making donations to so many community agencies, she said. She has begun looking at a program for Blaine County and would like to extend it to smaller counties that couldn’t afford to have a program of their own. Plant a Seed...Read has programs in Fort Benton and Big Sandy, but Lorraine wants to see it expand to every corner of the state. The program operates in every state. In addition to contributions, she said volunteers are needed. Many senior citizens enjoy working with preschool programs to help kids enjoy books. After undergoing training, they can play the role of mentors to the kids, reading them books and answering questions. ”Some people call them tutors,” she said. “I like to call them reading buddies.” Other volunteers help develop literacy kits to help families in teaching reading, and some help sew “reading buddy quilts” to use when buddies are reading. Plant a Seed...Read also offers classes to help parents work with their children to improve literacy skills. So, she said, ”we really believe in the philosophy of ‘it takes a village.’” The community gets a lot back for its contributions, she said. Students who do well in
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early years of school go on to become good students, she said. Young people who don’t develop reading skills will have a rough time ahead, she said. States look at the number of students who are behind in reading skills in third grade to help determine how many prison cells they will need in the future,” she said. There is a lot of work left to do in the effort to establish good reading practices, Lorraine said. And she plans to be around to take part. After retiring as a teacher, she took over as the executive director of United Way of Hill County. She’ll be retiring from that job at the end of the year. But there will always be her volunteer work at Plant a Seed...Read. “I’m turning 65,” she said. “And I’m not done yet. “I’m not done spreading the world about the importance of reading.”
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